Drink driver who got behind the wheel over the limit with passengers in car is banned from the road for a year

A drink-driver, who was involved in an early hours collision after he drank four or five pints of lager, had passengers in the car.

Police were looking for the occupants of the vehicle at 2.28am, when a woman, with others, walked towards the patrol car saying: " I have the keys of the car.

"Do you want them?"

Burnley magistrates were told that officers then heard 30-year-old forklift truck driver Daniel Allonby say: "I was driving," and when told he would be breath -tested, he said:" I'm going to blow over."

He was taken to the police station, where he blew 56 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Mrs Tracy Yates, prosecuting, told the court the defendant said he had clipped the kerb on a roundabout and damaged the car. He said he had drunk four or five pints of lager.

She added: "He said he thought he was fit to drive, but, looking back, he wasn't."

Mr Daniel Frazer, defending, described Allonby's actions as a " foolish five minutes."

He told the court: "He can only apologise for being before the court. It could have been much worse than it actually was."

Allonby had been planning to get a taxi with friends. He had no money on him, had gone to get some, but it would appear there was peer pressure from others, who had drunk an awful lot more than he had, and who coerced him into driving.

The solicitor continued: "He knew he shouldn't have done.

"Thankfully, the only damage is to his vehicle and there is no injury to himself, his passengers or anybody else on the road."

Mr Frazer added: " He should have been stronger and stood up to these people. You can make more money, but you can't take back something this stupid."

Allonby, of Napier Street, Nelson, admitted driving with excess alcohol on North Valley Road, Colne, on Sunday, August 19th. He was fined £200, with a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs and was banned for 12 months.

Sentencing, Bench chairman Mrs Lynn Kemp told the defendant: "Why you thought that having four pints means you are fit to drive, I have no idea.

"Silly, silly escapade that night."

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